Over the past 20 years, the Fund canvasses have played an enormous role in building OSPIRG.  Nearly everyone on our citizen membership and activist lists was first recruited by a Fund canvasser.  The canvasses have also catalyzed dozens of our legislative victories.  Canvassers mobilize citizens around Oregon, forcing our state's decision-makers to sit up and listen.

Maureen Kirk, Executive Director, OSPIRG

Accomplishments with U.S. PIRG

• U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), is a network of independent, state-based, citizen-funded organizations that advocate the public interest. Since 1970, U.S. PIRG has been delivering results-oriented citizen activism to protect our environment, encourage a fair and sustainable economy, and foster a responsive democratic government.

• Fund canvasses play a critical role in building membership for U.S. PIRG. The canvasses have built the U.S. PIRG federation essentially from scratch to an organization with over 400,000 active members. Over 70,000 of those members are monthly donors, a majority of whom were recruited as monthly donors through the canvass.

• The canvass signs up members for U.S. PIRG in diverse geographic areas, which enhances U.S. PIRG's national advocacy work. We have canvassed in all 50 states and in a mix of large and small markets-everything from Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, to Nashville, Charlotte and Tallahassee.

• The canvass plays a key role in educating the public about U.S. PIRG campaigns. During the summer of 2006, Fund canvassers contacted over 1.5 million people on behalf of the federation.

The Fund and U.S. PIRG have worked together for over 20 years on canvassing programs to raise money, build membership, educate the public, and build grassroots political power to support the federation's public interest advocacy efforts.

Over the years, the canvasses have contributed to dozens of U.S. PIRG campaign victories. One recent example–early in 2006, Illinois PIRG persuaded Governor Blagojevich to propose that Illinois require its coal-burning power companies to eliminate 90 percent of their mercury emissions by 2009. This important step happened in no small part because more than 15,000 Illinois PIRG members wrote to the Governor asking him to adopt strong mercury regulations. Most of the members who wrote in were either prompted by the grassroots organizing efforts of the Fund's two Illinois PIRG canvass offices or responded to action alerts sent out to Illinois PIRG’s e-mail activist network–many of these e-mail activists were first identified by our canvassers.

More partners.